Lawmakers react after coronavirus briefing: 'I do not think we're prepared'
House lawmakers emerged from a briefing on coronavirus on Friday with Democrats saying that the country is not prepared to deal with the public health threat, while Republicans were less critical but still said that more needs to be done to combat the spread of the disease.
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Washington (CNN)House lawmakers emerged from a briefing on
coronavirus on Friday with Democrats saying that the country is not prepared to deal with the public health threat, while Republicans were less critical but still said that more needs to be done to combat the spread of the disease.
"This is potentially an enormous issue for the country and I do not think we're prepared," Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic Judiciary Committee member, said as she left the full House member coronavirus briefing.
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The Washington congresswoman said they're unprepared "on multiple levels," including on the local level as well as when it comes to resources like masks, testing kits and the possibility of quarantines.
"If this were to really become a serious epidemic in the country, you know, how do we deal with quarantine and isolation?" she asked.
Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican from Michigan, said he thinks "everyone is scrambling for information," and members are frustrated about not getting a lot of their questions answered.
He added, "it needs to be all hands on deck. ... There's a lot of work that has to be done."
Friday morning's briefing for House lawmakers got off to a rocky start with a room that was far too small -- the room only had 50 chairs set up in it -- a situation that prompted complaints from some lawmakers. Members later moved en-masse to a larger room down the hall.
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"We've got a group of experts sitting at a table. It's 8 o'clock in the morning. They cramped us in little rooms," GOP Rep. Paul Mitchell of Michigan said.
In recent days, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed alarm over the outbreak and have raised questions about how prepared the United States government is to combat the virus.
Congressional appropriations are now working to determine the details and top-line numbers of an emergency coronavirus funding package in an effort to deal with the public health threat.
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